Flotation in inorganic electrolytes; the relationship between recover of hydrophobic particles, surface tension, bubble coalescence and gas solubility

Classification of Flotation Frothers

“…Slope of surface tension of aqueous solution of selected organic and inorganic reagents, (a) inorganic salts [32]; (b) inorganic acids [19]; (c) inorganic bases [19]; (d) organic reagents ( [19,33], assumed solution density 1 g/cm 3 ). Slope of surface tension of aqueous solution of selected organic and inorganic reagents, (a) inorganic salts [32]; (b) inorganic acids [19]; (c) inorganic bases [19]; (d) organic reagents ( [19,33], assumed solution density 1 g/cm 3 ). In the case of surfactants, the plot of the surface tension versus concentration is not linear (Figure 4a), although plotting using a logarithmic scale for concentration (Figure 4b) usually provides a linear part, before it levels off for values characteristic for micellar or pure reagent surface tension.…”

“…Pugh et al [32] investigated flotation of graphite, which is a medium hydrophobic material, in the presence of different inorganic salts. Their data, replotted by Ratajczak and Drzymala [62] (Figure 12) as the yield after a certain flotation time and the surface tension of aqueous solution caused by the frother evidently shows, that there are groups of inorganic frother: effective, neutral, and harmful, resulting from positive (∆σ = +), negative (∆σ = −) and none (∆σ ∼ = 0) change of the surface tension with the inorganic frother concentration, respectively.…”

Flotation of copper-bearing shale in solutions of inorganic salts and organic reagents

“…Flotation of copper-bearing shale, denoted by Drzymala et al [8], as shale P, was carried out using a mono-bubble type Hallimond cell with a capacity of 200 cm 3 and height of 36 cm. The investigations were carried out in distilled water and in the presence of aqueous solutions of NaCl, Na2SO4 at concentrations of 0.5 to 2 mol/dm 3 and KPF6 at concentrations of 0.05 to 0.25 mol/dm 3 , that is up to its solubility limit.…”

“…The investigations were carried out in distilled water and in the presence of aqueous solutions of NaCl, Na2SO4 at concentrations of 0.5 to 2 mol/dm 3 and KPF6 at concentrations of 0.05 to 0.25 mol/dm 3 , that is up to its solubility limit. More precise description of methodology of investigations is given in the works of Smolska and Ratajczak [6] and Smolska [9].…”

“…Salt flotation mechanism and results depend on the type, concentration and foaming properties of the saline solutions. Inorganic salts can replace organic frothers in flotation but not all inorganic salts are good frothers [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. From these works it can be seen that the salts that raise or lower the surface tension can cause, respectively, an increase or decrease of flotation of naturally hydrophobic minerals.…”